January 29th: An Embarrassment of Riches

There are three magnificent events going on this Sunday, all of which have Call And Response's firm seal of approval. Anyway, here they are in reverse order of cheapness and ascending order of opening time:

Firstly, I'm going to DJ at the event Style Band Tokyo are doing for Bo Ningen, who will be touring in Kyushu with Zibanchinka and Hyacca next month (details coming soon).

Place: Shibuya Club Asia

Time: 15:30

Cost: 3000/3500

Bands: Bo Ningen / Guitar Wolf / N'Shukugawa Boys / 6eyes / Psysalia Psysalsis Psyche / Tadzio / Moja

DJs: Tomo (Style Band Tokyo) / Taigen Kawabe (Bo Ningen) / Yamada (Knew Noise Recordings) / Sumire & Methyl (Twee Grrrls Club) / Soccreboy / Gypsy Badman (Control) / Le Champ (Control) / Sam & Mark (Tokyo Indie) / Tommy (Boy) / Tommi (Dancer Danger) / Yuta Sekiyama (from England to me!) / Kenta Hirano (Love Action) / Judy (Throw that beat!) / Ian Martin (Call And Response) / wizzjones / hahas disco / Full Circle / Black Neon Party / si oux (Vive Vagina) / Y Brando (Passione+) / Apu (Afterdark) / Sho (Plasticzooms) / Boys Get Hurt

Also, Hyacca will be playing at the Next Music from Tokyo tour finale, with all the bands they toured Canada with last October.

Place: Shindaita Fever

Time: 17:30:18:00

Cost: 2500/3000

Bands: Hyacca / Natsumen / Merpeoples / Akai Koen / Chiina

Finally, Anatopia will finish up their Japan tour in style at an excellent event The Mornings are putting on over the other side of town.

Place: Akihabara Club Goodman

Time: 18:00

Cost: 2000/2500

Bands: Anatopia / The Mornings / Ultra Bide / Emily loves Tennis / Umi no Te

Telephone Club New Year Party (Sunday, January 22nd)

As I've already mentioned in my previous post, Dutch new wave duo Anatopia are currently in Japan and ready to kick off their tour at Shin-Koenji Club Liner tomorrow. Call And Response will hold an event of our own for Anatopia before they shoot off to Osaka and Kyushu next week.

Taking the form of a kind of mini-festival in the warehouse-like underground cavern that is Kichijoji GOK Sound, the event will also feature a raft of Tokyo postpunk, new wave, garage and indiepop bands, with DJ team Youth is Wasted playing tunes in between live performances.

There's no compulsory drink order and you're free to bring your own beer in with you, although we'll try to have cheap drinks available inside as well. It's going to be a blast!

Place: Kichijoji GOK Sound
Date: 22nd January (Sunday)
Time: 16:00-23:00
Cost: 2000yen

LIVE:
- Anatopia (from Amsterdam)
- tacobonds
- Tessendoriko
- Praha Depart
- Hysteric Picnic
- Girls Pancakes
- tantan to tantan

DJs:
- Youth Is Wasted: NAH & Sue / Tack Terror / Komlaski / Gosuke
VJ:
- Terada (HUH)

Anatopia (from Amsterdam) Japan tour 2012

Dutch electro-punks Anatopia are a duo comprised of Klaus Plötzlich and Henrietta Morgenstern. They take the slick, electronic techno-fetishism of Kraftwerk, the spiky, irony-laced geek-punk of Devo and the grimy garage rock of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, turning it to the purpose of creating simple, catchy, minimalist pop art nuggets.

巧妙でかつ、エレクトロニック＆テクノ-フェティシズムのKraftwerkのような、するどく尖り、アイロニーで飾られた、ギーク-パンクのDevoのような、汚れたガレージロックのThe Yeah Yeah Yeahsのような要素を兼ね合わせている。Anatopiaはこれらの要素を捏ね合わせ、最終的にシンプルでキャッチー、そしてミニマリストなポップアートナゲッツを創り上げていく。

While their lyrics deal with the duo's obsession with and fear of technology, they contrast this with a live setup that brings a sense of theatre to the stage but also focusses on sounds they can generate themselves in the moment. Henrietta plays synth and attacks a crash cymbal in her spare moments, while Klaus operates a kick drum and hi-hat with his feet at the same time as playing guitar with his hands.

歌詞にはテクノロジーへの執着や恐れが歌われており、そのコントラストはライブセットアップを通しても見ることができる。Anatopiaのステージは舞台さながらの雰囲気だ。もちろんそれだけではなく、エレクトロといいながらも、ステージ上で彼ら自らがその場でサウンドを作り上げていく。Henriettaはシンセサイザーを弾き、その傍らでシンバルを鳴らす。その一方、Klausは足でキックドラムやハイハットを鳴らし、ギターを弾くというように。

2012年1月、日本来日公演決定！Anatopiaのライブパフォーマンスをぜひ生でご覧ください。

18th (Wed): Tokyo, Shin-Koenji, Club Liner

Open 18:00/Start 18:30, :Adv. 2,000/Door 2,300

w/ retolighter / wasted junks / フューチャー / Sputnik

19th (Thu): Tokyo, Aoyama, Tsukimiru/Moonromantic

Ope n18:00/Start 18:30, Adv. 2,000/Door 2,500

w/ Lieselotte / Lotsasignal / JUSTICE OF CANADA / RITOMO

20th (Fri): Tokyo, Shibuya, O-Nest

Open 18:30/Start 19:00, Adv. 2,000/Door 2,500

w/ ユナイテッドモンモンサン / MAHORAGA / H Mountains / PETA

22nd (Sun): Tokyo, Kichijoji, GOK Sound (Call And Response New Year Party!)

Open 16:00/Start16:30, Adv./Door 2,000

w/ Tacobonds / テッセンドリコ / プラハデパート / Hysteric Picnic / Girls Pancakes / tantan to tantan / Youth is Wasted DJs / VJ Terada (HUH)

25th (Wed): Osaka, Sengoku Daitouryou

Open 18:00/Start 18:30, Adv. 1,500/Door 2,000

w/ ヤーマンバンド / Boys of hongkong / 444CAPSULE

26th (Thu): Kumamoto, Navaro

Open/Start TBA, Adv./Door TBA

w/ DIA SYNDICATE / + more

27th (Fri): Fukuoka, Yakuin, Utero

Open 18:30/Start 19:00, Adv. 1,500/Door 2,000

w/ THE LIGHTNING DELIVERY's / AMORPHOUS / Fake doll Nott / Virtual Planets / gigandect

29th (Sun): Tokyo, Akihabara, Club Goodman

Open/Start TBA, Adv./Door TBA

w/ the mornings / ULTRA BIDE / Emily likes tennis / うみのて / + more

Connect And Receive, December 2011

I skipped last month because I was too busy with various bands’ tours but I’ve made the December one into a sort of end-of-year review focussing on some of my favourite bands and releases of the year, as well as a couple of things from previous years that I either only discovered recently or came back to in a big way this year. Anyway, here’s the pod:

Or download it from Archive.org.

And here’s the track list:

1. cynicalsmileisyourfavorite: Crazy Disco (self-released 2011 CD/R)
2. Kobayashi Dorori: Pickles (Yarukoto Yattara Kaette yo, 2011)
3. Hakoiri Kibun: Hakuchuu Sosou (Fudoutoku Pops Kouza, 2010)
4. Bossston Cruizing Mania: Low Down (Loaded Lowdead Rawdead, 2011)
5. Extruders: Vertical Point (Neuter, 2007)
6. Lihappiness: Eikoku ni Tsutawaru Dance (Drums & Lihappiness, 2011)
7. Hysteric Picnic: Persona (Hysteric Picnic EP, 2011)
8. She Talks Silence: Dead Romance (Some Small Gifts, 2011)
9. Uhnellys: Subliminal Orchestra (To Too Two, 2011)
10. Mothercoat: No Music Yes Life (Egobag, 2011)
11. Sloppy Joe: Still Be a Little Roof (With Kisses Four, 2011)

Fashion Crisis (January 2012)

Fashion Crisis has its first event of the year this Friday, with a menagerie of musical artists being cut up into a smorgasbord of sonic morsels for consumption by your ears. Live music comes from Mr. Fidel Villeneuve, late of that London, and the broken pop fragments of Living Astro, with vengeful noise spirit Dave McMahon a.k.a. Onryo joining as a guest DJ.

Date: January 6th (Friday)
Place: Koenji One
Time: 8:00pm-Last train
Price: FREE
Live:
- Fidel
- Living Astro
DJs:
- Dave McMahon (Onryo)
- James Hadfield
- Ian Martin